Many Are Cold, but Few Are Frozen

This little creature is only alive because she is cute. She drives me crazy. Right now she is trying to sit on my head as I lie in bed writing on my laptop. I sternly warn her not to fart. She giggles, and climbs up again. Her toes hover above the keyboard.

I have a theory that cuteness was the key advantage of Homo Sapiens as it competed with other human species, like the Neanderthals. Image an annoying Neanderthal toddler pestering his mother. Neanderthal Mom gets irritated. She picks up the thighbone of an antelope and looks at him. The toddler is butt-ugly. Without hesitation, she whacks him over the head, and the Neanderthal gene pool gets a little smaller.

Now imagine the same thing with a child as cute as this one. Will Homo Sapiens Mom hit her over the head? No, impossible. No matter how angry, Mom is overwhelmed by her child's cuteness. The thighbone lies untouched on the ground. Maybe some of the ugliest Homo Sapien children didn't make it, but clearly enough did in those early days for the species to spread all over the world.

I look at that laughing little face, and my irritation fades away. She is the very definition of cuteness. She's my baby, she's my girl.